...and bad mistakes, I've made a few...

Sweltering, humid, and no rain...hello, August!  At least the daily dew is really heavy.  

It's a good thing, because unless we actually get rain, this is the only moisture that my garden will be getting. My fatal mistake of expecting pathway weeds to die has pretty much sunk the garden this year.  The weeds thrived and spread into the beds.  It was hot and dry, and belatedly trying to pull them proved impossible.  Then, while we were on our trip, everything sprouted.  Now the flowers are like a museum exhibit - see, but don't touch.

Ticks, spiders, snakes...the paths are gone, and it's a jungle out there.  As much as I'd like to just mow it down, we still enjoy looking at the flowers (from a distance).  Of course, the pollinators and the birds are loving the smorgasbord.  When it finally cools down, I can take a weed whacker to the worst sections.

The newer garden isn't nearly as overgrown, at least!

I'm collecting a few seed types this year, but not many.  Multi-variety flowers like zinnias, cosmos, celosia, sunflowers, etc. will not grow true from saved seed in an open-pollinated garden, so I'll just order the varieties that I'm interested in.  The birds can have these!

I am saving a few types of flowers for drying.  Celosia, gomphrena, yarrow, and strawflowers are supposed to be great for this.

I've got a nice variety of celosia this year! Pink, yellow, cream, sherbet, orange, red...plume, wavy, and wrinkled...I hope they'll dry well.

Strawflower petals are already dry, so they retain their appearance well after hanging.

There are still beautiful things to be discovered in that tangled jungle, like an edge patch of zinnia with beautifully saturated petals.

I planted red, yellow, and white milkweed...none of which grew.  However, a stray wild milkweed is looking gorgeous and ready to provide for the monarch butterflies!

A painted turtle peeked out of the grass at the edge of the garden.

Just beyond the back garden, a fawn was surprised by the dawn.  In the fog, she'd gotten turned around...and Mom was on the other side of the fence.

She didn't appreciate my attempt to open the back gates for her.

I had to leave the front gate open for an escape route!

August is tough, absolutely my least-favorite month.  That's one of the reasons why I wanted to get married in August...so at least there was one good thing in it! I'm just focusing on getting through the next couple of sticky, hot weeks...working on winter projects...

...and dreaming of the day when I can finally open a window to let in fresh air.  September is coming!

Have a great week!

frost tossed

 First frost!!

I love watching the steam rise from the back pond and fields on cold mornings.

What a difference a week makes.  One single frost completely shocked the trees out of their complacency.  Here are some befores and afters, just 4 or 5 days apart!

The solitary frost was followed by a series of warm days, but the warmth wasn't enough to salvage my poor herb garden, which turned to complete mush after the frost.  My zinnias were seriously blighted too. I've collected frost-bitten flower heads, dried them, and am now trying to sprout selected seeds in plastic bags to determine viability.

Nasturtiums are slowly going to seed.  I love these tiny "pumpkins" on thin, curly stems!

I'm drying my few remaining sunflowers inside to protect them from the birds, who are still quite plentiful.

Here they are, watching from a safe distance and waiting for "the intruder" to leave their dinner table!

Working in the garden and slowly cutting it down for winter, I still see so many visitors.  Some good...

...and others somewhat less welcome.  Hopefully good fences will take care of these deer!

Claudia is too preoccupied with our fall decor to be much of a deer deterrent these days.

We took a drive to Eagle Creek Park this weekend for a hike.  I've said many times that there's nothing like South Carolina in the spring, and Indiana in the fall!  It has the three Bs.

Birds:

...berries...

...and beautiful colors!

These colors are so inspiring and I see them repeated over and over in my textile projects:

It's good to know what you like.  :)

Have a great week!  

(my) space invaders

Although some flowers seem to be prospering despite bone-dry conditions...

...we seem to be sliding inexorably toward fall.  More leaves are being tipped in color...

I'm seeing acorns again!

Fall berries are bright in the shadows.

The deer have stepped up their pre-winter caloric intake, making short work of my cantaloupe.

Although they've been eating the leaves from my massive pumpkin vines...

...they've been leaving the pumpkins alone.  Hooray!

I've been getting a nice ornamental gourd harvest, too!

Butterflies are seeming more frenetic than ever, trying to get the last bit of nutrition before laying eggs.

Reluctantly, I've mostly stopped picking flowers for bouquets.  They might not regenerate in time to set seed, and I want to collect as much seed as possible.  I'm drying flower heads all over my craft room.

A large "harvest" is not a given, because the goldfinches have redoubled their efforts, ripping even premature green seeds from dying flowers.

They are fearless!  Like in some gothic novel, they rise in clouds when disturbed, but wait patiently on nearby trees for the intruder to walk by.  They're back at their serious work in minutes.

I can't have them destroying my entire "crop," so I'm out with the organza bags, covering select flowers and hoping that the goldfinches will be satiated soon.  

I'm keeping an eye on another potential invader...my morning glories are starting to set up seed.

I have to keep a close watch and deadhead most, while allowing one section to ripen.  They're so beautiful that I want to be sure to have more for next year!

Abandoned spiderwebs...

...weedy seeds...

...and delightfully atmospheric fog...

...it's sure starting to feel like fall to me.  

Have a great week!